Heena Sharma Blog

Congress President Rahul Gandhi said his party, if it were to form the government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections, would ensure a minimum income of Rs 6,000 per month to 20 per cent poorest of poor households, or 250 million people. While the Narendra Modi government had promised to Rs 6,000 per year to poor farmers, the Congress has promised a matching amount to all poor, particularly the landless. The party, however, scrapped its earlier proposal that envisaged topping up the gap between a poor household’s income to bring it to Rs 12,000. It has now promised a flat Rs 6,000 per month allowance, or Rs 72,000 per year, if a family’s income is below Rs 12,000. Gandhi said a committee of party leaders, which included Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram, had calculated that the basic living income each family needs to survive is Rs 12,000. Calling the scheme “ last attack on poverty ”, Gandhi said the income would be transferred to the bank accounts of women in each ...

The BJP in its first list of 28 candidates for West Bengal has pinned hopes on its veterans and defectors from the ruling Trinamool Congress to take on the Mamata Banerjee's government in the state. Of the 28 candidates, nearly 25 are new faces, with a thrust on active political workers rather than greenhorns from the glamour world. The saffron party, which bagged two Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 elections, is now targeting 23 of the state's 42 constituencies. Unlike the TMC list, which had 18 new faces and a mix of both old timers and greenhorns, hardcore politicians and personalities from the film industry, the BJP has put faith on its own leaders and defectors from other parties. There are four women candidates and one Muslim nominee in the first list. Of the candidates, five had recently defected to the saffron party from the Trinamool Congress and one from the CPI(M). Union minister and BJP MP from Asansol Lok Sabha constuency Babul Supriyo has been renom...

A prominent Sunni cleric has expressed dismay over the Election Commission of India (ECI)'s announcement of polling dates for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections , claiming that the voting is scheduled for the holy month of Ramzan in May. The Imam of the revered Lucknow-based Aishbagh Eidgah, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, has urged the ECI to ‘respect’ the sentiments of Muslims and shift the dates of polling scheduled for May 6, 12 and 19, since Ramzan, the fasting month of Muslims, was expected to begin on May 6. He claimed the moon sighting for Ramzan would be done on May 5 and if sighted, the month of Ramzan would begin from the following date, that is, May 6. “ The voting dates falling on May 6, 12 and 19 would hence fall during the fasting period and subject Muslims to ‘extraordinary’ hardships,” he said in a statement here last night. The Maulana, who is a respected Muslim religious leader in the country, has suggested the ECI to either pre-pone the elections ...

An advertising blitz by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's administration, which saw more than 150 newspaper ads exulting over its performance in 10 days, stopped on Monday, a day after the schedule for the next general election was announced. The election will be held over seven stages from April 11 in what will be the world's biggest democratic exercise, the Election Commission said on Sunday, when a code of conduct over election campaigning came into force. Citing the code, the commission said "no advertisements shall be issued in electronic and print media highlighting the achievements of the govt. at the cost of public exchequer". Leading English-language national dailies including the Times of India, the Hindustan Times and the Indian Express carried no government ads on Monday. The New Delhi editions of the same three newspapers had 162 government ads between March 1 and March 10, according to Reuters calculations. Of those, 93 were full page....

Patidar leader Hardik Patel is said to join the Congress soon and is likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from Jamnagar constituency in Gujarat, top party sources said on Wednesday. "Patel, who led the agitation demanding reservation for the patidar community in Gujarat is likely to join the Congress on March 12 in the presence of party chief Rahul Gandhi," the sources said. The Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat is currently represented by Poonamben Maadam of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Patel's joining will coincide with the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Ahmedabad, following which top party leaders will address a public rally there. The Congress is focussing on Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and had give a tough fight to the ruling BJP in the last assembly polls in the state. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard